Russians disapprove of bureaucrats’ wealth

Russians are calling for lower salaries for government officials, which are often seen as distant and corrupt. Source: Kommersant

Opinion polls show that a majority of Russians are increasingly intolerant of the wealth of government officials – riches which they see as connected to the embezzlement of public funds.

Russians are increasingly intolerant of wealth among state
officials and parliamentarians. Ordinary people not only
consider a life of luxury for those officials to be indecent, but they also
make a direct connection between high-paid government jobs and crime.

According to the results of a recent opinion poll conducted
by the Levada Center, only 13 percent of all Russians consider it normal for a
state official or Duma deputy to be wealthy. A third of the respondents (33
percent) called that situation indecent, while a majority (44 percent) called
it criminal.

As for what makes a person as “rich” in the understanding
of respondents, the poll did not say. However, according to the results of
previous polls, a rich person is someone who earns at least 110,000 rubles a
month (nearly $4,000).

Accordingly, an overwhelming majority of respondents (62
percent) favor establishing a cap on incomes for those who wish to work for the
government. Respondents are convinced that lower incomes will make officials
more in tune with the people. Another 20 percent added that all property should
be declared, since a person with no business assets will presumably make
independent decisions.

Denis Volkov, an expert at the Levada Center, called the
results of this poll predictable.

“Russians have had the sense that the
government is corrupt for years now,” said Volkov.

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Thus, the anti-corruption
campaign of Alexei Navalny fell on fertile ground; he has been supported by
other bloggers both at home and abroad.

“Only after that did the government
react; now it has begun doing its own anti-corruption exposés,” Volkov added.

The list of victims of these exposés is growing. Members of
both chambers of parliament have been forced to give up their seats. Some are
suspected of illegal business activities (Duma deputies Gennady Gudkov and
Alexei Knyshov), while others are accused of hiding high-priced assets,
including foreign real estate (Vladimir Pekhtin and Vitaly Malkin).

“This undermines the authority of the State Duma, whose work no one
sees as independent or free of the influence of the executive branch," he explains. "It’s a
vicious circle: On the one hand, people feel that corrupt officials should be
exposed. On the other, they do not believe in the results of the anti-corruption
campaign instituted by the government.”

Vyacheslav Smirnov, director of the Institute of Political
Sociology, believes that state officials are themselves responsible for the
increasing dissatisfaction among rank-and-file citizens.

“In Russia it’s not the
rich we don’t like – it’s the rich who flaunt their money," he said. "State officials have
no sense of proportion and are not ashamed of showing off their financial
position.”

Smirnov thinks that the first priority should be discouraging
“accidental” people from entering government service – that is, people whose
aim is to take advantage of their position rather than to serve the country.